Artificial lift techniques are widely used to enhance production for reservoirs with energy levels too low to directly lift fluids to the surface. Among various artificial lift techniques in the industry (such as Gas Lift, Hydraulic Pumping Units, Electric Submersible Pump, Progressive Cavity Pump and Rod Pump techniques), the Sucker Rod Pump technique is the most commonly used. For example, approximately 95% of world pumping units utilize Sucker Rod Pumps.
Rod pump failures can be broadly classified into two main categories: mechanical and chemical. Mechanical failures are typically caused by improper design, by improper manufacturing, or by wear and tear during operations. Well conditions may contribute to excessive wear and tear, such as sand intrusions, gas pounding, and asphalting. Chemical failures are generally caused by the corrosive nature of the fluid being pumped through the systems. For example, the fluid may contain H2S or bacteria. For rod pumps these mechanical and chemical causes manifest themselves as tubing failures, rod string failures and rod pump failures. These failures initially reduce the efficiency of the pumping operation, but in due course will bring the systems to fail and require reactive well work. These workovers shut down the systems causing production loss and increasing the operational expenditure (OPEX) in addition to the regular maintenance cost.
Currently pump off controllers (POCs) play a major role in monitoring the operation of well systems. POCs can be programmed to automatically shut down units if the values of torque and load deviate beyond cutoff boundaries. Also, by analyzing the dynocard patterns collected by the POCs one can understand the behavior of these units. These POCs reduce the amount of work required by the production and maintenance personnel operating the field. However, the POCs by themselves are not sufficient as a great deal of time and effort is still needed to monitor each and every unit operating. Accordingly, there is a need for more automated systems, such as artificial intelligent systems that can dynamically keeps track of certain parameters in each and every unit, give early indications or warnings for failures, and provide suggestions on types of maintenance work required based on the knowledge acquired from previous best practices. Such systems would be a great asset to industry personnel by allowing them to be more proactive and to make a better maintenance decision. These systems would increase the efficiency of the pumping units to bring down OPEX, thereby making the pumping operations more economical.